'We need this law': Bill to address 'sex-for-rent' issue welcomed in Cork 

A bill by Cork Labour Party senator Laura Harmon to address ‘sex-for-rent’ payments has been celebrated by people who have been in this predicament and also by the CEO of the Cork Sexual Violence Centre.

The bill passed second stage earlier this month, and will now go to committee stage, where amendments can be made.

Ms Harmon said that students, low-income workers, migrants, and people facing homelessness or fleeing domestic violence are often targeted, as they are most in need of accommodation.

Darling Duran, who came to Ireland from Bolivia as an international student, told The Echo she was looking for somewhere to live, so she joined some Facebook pages and groups.

“I contacted one man, who put up an ad for a single room with a single bed, and he explained that the bed was his bed in his room. He said he worked nights, so the offer was I could sleep in his bed.

“He said that when he needed the bed, we could share it, that would be ‘no problem’, according to him, because he was single,” Ms Duran said.

“It had looked like a good offer, a single room for a reasonable price, but when I understood the situation I said, no, I wasn’t interested. He kept trying to convince me, and my last action was just to block him.”

It is difficult for international students who have limited English, and who only have eight-month visas, meaning they need a short-term lease.

Ms Duran said: “Lots of landlords will not consider us. Also, we often don’t have references, and Facebook is full of scams. It makes it really hard to find a place.”

She welcomed Ms Harmon’s bill, saying: “It’s not a situation only affecting international students, but the housing difficulties we have put us in bad situations.

“I am speaking out on it, because we have to have some protection against these kind of people that are trying to take advantage of vulnerable people like us. At the moment, there is nobody to report it to — we need this law.”

Supporting Ms Harmon’s bill is co-founder and CEO of the Sexual Violence Centre Cork, Mary Crilly, who told The Echo that the issue is “something we have been coming across for years”.

“The sooner legislation comes in place, the better. If you rent a place where you have to have sex with the landlord, it’s another form of prostitution,” she said.

“They can make out that she agreed, they’re not forcing her, but it’s a form of control and power for these people. If you agree to live there, the guy could throw you out the following week — what a way to live.

“The people most affected by this are the most vulnerable; they might be homeless or disadvantaged.

“It’s abuse, and it’s time we looked at these men and named their abuse.”

A recent report by the Irish Council for International Students (ICOS) found that 5% of female international students either received an offer to rent a room in Ireland in exchange for sex, or had seen a room that was being advertised in exchange for sex.

Ms Harmon, who is also the outgoing executive director of ICOS, told The Echo that she knows from her work that there’s a real need for her bill.

“We need to legislate to outlaw sex for rent and that’s why I published a bill early in my term as a senator,” Ms Harmon said.

“I’m glad it has passed the second stage in the Seanad and I am following up with [justice] minister Jim O’Callaghan’s office on it to ensure we can get it progressed.

“My bill would create a Class A fine of up to €50,000 for anyone advertising ‘sex for rent’ and it would cover online ads, as well as texts, emails, and verbal communication.”

Ms Harmon added: “We know, from the research from ICOS, that 5% of women students have seen or directly encountered ads in relation to sex for rent. These ads are often in ambiguous language online, which can be very confusing for international students and migrants.”

There are certain signs in an online advert.

“They will often not advertise any rental price. Sometimes, they will set a nominal fee. For example, they might offer a room for €1 per month or there will be a declaration that the rental price is negotiable.

“Often, there will be a failure to identify the exact location of the property and the full address will not be there, because they are hiding behind this,” Ms Harmon said.

“They will also tend to target a particular type of renter. They might say they are just looking for women or refer to a certain demeanour or look they want in the person. The ads often include a request for a photograph or a physical description of the person they desire to have in the house.”

However, as a report by the National Women’s Council (NWC) in May 2024 identified, often, there are no signs at all in the ads. 

It was reported by interviewees for the NWC report “that many arrangements of this nature are now proposed via direct message on social media, in response to posts seeking accommodation.

“In these cases, the landlords are not advertising at all, but, rather, responding to ads via direct messages, which are not visible to the public or to the platform.”

Ms Harmon said: “It’s often when someone views the room, or after they ask for details, that they get made the offer in relation to ‘sex for rent’. This can be very scary when it happens or when they receive creepy messages or images from the landlord.

“We need legislation to outlaw this specifically and we need to further protect vulnerable renters from predators who are taking advantage of the housing crisis.”

Sometimes, the landlord makes a proposition after the tenant has moved in, the ICOS report, published in February of this year, showed.

A French Erasmus student was quoted in the report as saying: “The owner (who has a studio in the house) asked after five days if I wanted to have sex with him.”

The ICOS report also shared the experiences of many more international students from across Ireland who had experienced this phenomenon.

One student said: “I posted on social media that I was looking for a room to rent and received two responses from men saying they had a room to rent and asking me what I could offer in exchange. One of them directly said that I could sleep with him; he then sent some obscene images.”

Another wrote that she saw online: “Some man was offering a room for a woman to be a maid and for sex.” A third said: “When I went to view a room, the landlord started to speak to me in a sexual tone and mentioned that there were ‘other ways’ of paying the rent.”

Housing charity Threshold, who provide support to renters, told The Echo that the problem was a symptom of a larger issue.

“Renters facing this issue is a reminder of the overall urgent need for more affordable rental housing options and greater tenancy protections.”

The bill is already having a positive effect. 

Ms Harmon was told in recent weeks by Daft.ie that they have updated their house rules for advertisers to state that “any advertisement submitted to Daft.ie that, in our sole discretion, appears to solicit or offer sexual services in exchange for rent will be removed without notice. The individual responsible for such content will be permanently prohibited from posting further advertisements on the platform.”

They also noted, from the Seanad debate transcript, that certain phrases commonly arise in ads where the landlord is seeking sex for rent, including ‘must be open-minded’, ‘must be up for having fun in the house’, ‘can negotiate on price’.

Ads containing these terms will be flagged for review before going live.